Eyes: Journal #1

As Janie arrives in this town for what the audience discovers is not the first time, she is the center of attention and the focus of gossip on every porch. All the women have some sort of input about Janie leaving town with Tea Cake, and what they have to say isn't very nice, "She ain't even worth talkin' after... ole women runnin' after young boys" (Hurston, 3). The women judge her very harshly because she left town with out much explanation, they don't think she's very proper for going away with a younger man, and they find her to be unlady-like. They're very catty, and their views on what Janie's done are some of the first things the reader learns about Janie, proving that she's done some things recently that were controversial. When Janie talks to Pheoby her best friend another side of her is able to be shown. The way her and Pheoby joke around and how she tells Pheoby a little bit about Tea Cake, she becomes very likable and is sadly misunderstood and harshly judged by the women due to a lack of understanding, "They don't need to worry about me... Tea Cake ain't wasted up no money of mine, and he ain't left me for no young gal, neither. He give me every consolation in de world" (Hurston, 7).

The men also provide some insight to how people feel about Janie, "They, the men, were saving with the mind what they lost with the eye" (Hurston, 2). Obviously from this quote men are very attracted to her and they find her beautiful. Her beauty may also be why the women judge her as they do.

The narrator clearly emphasizes the female perfective and right from the first paragraph, it is obvious that she will focus on the female experience. She talks about a mans life, then directly contrasts the mans life with a woman's life and starts the novel with it about a woman. She writes in third person omniscient because she provides some insight to the characters thoughts, "They sat there... Pheoby eager to feel and do through Janie, but hating to show her zest" (Hurston, 7). Hurston uses a lot of figurative language such as personification, "the porch pelting her back with unasked questions" (Hurston, 4). Hurston uses long descriptive sentences when she does say something, but for the most part the story is told though the dialogue and character interactions.